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Ambrose and Almirola back with Richard Petty Motorsports, and other NASCAR notes

November 16, 2012

Marcos Abrose, pictured, and Aric Almirola will be back with Richard Petty Motorsports for at least one more Sprint Cup season. Photo by LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC

There was never any serious indication it might not happen, so Richard Petty's recent announcement that he's keeping Marcos Ambrose and Aric Almirola for at least another Sprint Cup season came as no surprise in the Homestead-Miami Speedway garage area. The team confirmed Saturday morning that Ambrose and Almirola have re-signed for another year in Fords. It'll be Ambrose's third season at Richard Petty Motorsports in the No. 9 Fusion and Almirola's second in the No. 43 Fusion.

Ambrose has the only two wins for the reconfigured RPM–Petty took it from partners in 2009–at Watkins Glen in 2011 and this season. He also has poles at Michigan and then Sonoma this year, plus three top-five finishes and eight top-10s. Almirola won the pole at Charlotte in May and has one top-five finish and three top-10s. Ambrose and Almirola will start second and fifth, respectively, in Sunday afternoon's season-ending Ford EcoBoost 400.

“It's good to come back to Richard Petty Motorsports and focus on our future together,” Ambrose said. “We've had success this year and recently made plans to get better for 2013 and beyond. The Petty organization and this team with leadership of 'The King,' [general manager] Sammy Johns and [crew chief] Drew Blickensderfer is going to be even stronger next season. I can't think of a better place to be. I'm ready to win.”

So is Almirola, winless in 70 career starts. “We went through some changes this season, but since being paired with [crew chief] Todd Parrott, I've had the most fun I've had in a Cup car,” he said. “We have a lot of things clicking right now and a lot of momentum heading into 2013. Everyone at RPM seems to have good chemistry, that's a good feeling as we all prepare for 2013.”

A pair of foreign drivers in top 10

Friday night marked the first time two foreign drivers have finished top-10 in points in a major NASCAR series. Brazilian natives Nelson Piquet Jr. and Miguel Paludo were seventh and 10th in the final Camping World Truck Series standings.

They join a somewhat lengthy list of foreign-born drivers who've been top-10 in points: Canadian Earl Ross was eighth in Cup in 1974; countryman Larry Pollard was ninth and 10th in Nationwide in 1985 and 1986; Marcos Ambrose was eighth and 10th in Nationwide in 2007 and 2008; Juan Pablo Montoya was eight in Cup in 2009; and Piquet was 10th in the Truck Series in 2011.

Newman fails to get pole, snaps streak

One streak ended during Friday afternoon qualifying and another could end on Sunday afternoon in the Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Ryan Newman's streak of at least one pole for 11 consecutive years ended when Joey Logano was fast qualifier for the season-ending Sprint Cup race. Going into the weekend Newman had 49 poles– his first was at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May of 2001–including a career- and season-high 11 in 2003. He was the second-fastest qualifier for this year's restrictor-plate races at Daytona Beach in July and Talladega in October.

And Kurt Busch has won at least one race for 10 years since his first, at Bristol Motor Speedway in March of 2002. That victory was the first of 24 and marked the start of a 10-year streak that may end this weekend. He's running well in the No. 78 Chevrolet for Furniture Row Racing– two consecutive top-10 finishes–but perhaps not good enough to win on Sunday.

Is Eldora in the future for CWTS?

Talk persists that the Camping World Truck Series will run a points-paying race at the half-mile Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio next summer. If so, it'll be NASCAR's first dirt-track race for a major series since Cup teams raced at the half-mile North Carolina State Fairgrounds in Raleigh, N.C. in September, 1970. (Not surprisingly, Richard Petty easily won the 200-lapper.)

Although almost everyone thinks it will happen, track owner Tony Stewart continues to say nothing has been decided. “When we have something to say, we will tell you,” he told the media on Friday when asked about the ongoing Eldora rumor. “It's starting to get annoying every week. It's like we don't know answers and you guys want answers that we don't have answers to. When we have answers we'll come to (the media). I promise we won't leave you out of this.”

Speculation is that the Truck Series race will be on Wednesday or Thursday night before Cup and Nationwide weekends at Michigan International Speedway or the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Both are close enough to Eldora for drivers to easily commute back and forth if they wanted to races at both venues.